Too Far Gone (Don't Save Me Book 4)

Chapter 49: Old Memories

"Well, Mr. Gaunt... to get straight to the point, we have reason to believe that your son, Morfin, performed magic in front of a muggle late last night."

There was a loud clang as Merope had dropped a pan.

"Pick it up!" Gaunt yelled as she scrambled to grab the pan. "That's it, grub on the floor like some filthy Muggle. What's your wand for, you useless sack of muck?"

"Mr. Gaunt, please!" Ogden exclaimed as Merope grabbed her wand and accidentally sent the pan flying into the wall, cracking it in half. The son laughed as Merope made her way over to the pot but Odgen repaired it for her.

"Lucky the nice man from the Ministry's here, isn't it?" Gaunt hissed. "Perhaps, he'll take you off my hands. Perhaps he doesn't mind dirty squibs."

"Mr. Gaunt," Ogden began. "As I've said: the reason for my visit-."

"I heard you the first time!" Gaunt yelled. "And so what? Morfin gave a Muggle a bit of what was coming to him. What about it, then?"

The two men argued before Mr. Gaunt brandished the ring on his finger. "See this? Know what it is? Know where it came from? Centuries it's been in our family! That's how far back we go, and pure-blood all the way! Know how much I've been offered for this, with the Peverell coat of arms engraved in the stone?"

Ogden tried to get things back on track as Gaunt made his way to Merope and grabbed the locket around her neck. I froze as I saw it. Regulus's locket.... Or the one that had gotten him killed.

"See this?" Gaunt yelled as Merope struggled to breathe. "Slytherin's! Salazar Slytherin's! We're his last living descendants! What do you say to that, eh?"

"Mr. Gaunt, your daughter!" Ogden exclaimed as Gaunt released her.

Mr. Gaunt began boasting about his pure-blood line as Ogden explained being pure-blood had nothing to do with the matter at hand. Suddenly the sound of horses and laughter streamed in through the open window. I could hear a man and woman's voice discussing the state of the house as Merope perked up at the sound. Morfin began making fun of her for it and her father turned to her, fury flashing in his eyes.

"You filthy blood traitor!" he yelled, storming toward his daughter, his hands wrapping around the girl's throat.

"Relashio!" Ogden yelled and Gaunt was thrown backward. He quickly stood, brandishing a bloody knife and raising his wand. Ogden ran out of the house and quickly collided with a dark-haired man on a horse. He brushed himself off and continued running. The memory ended and Albus explained that Ogden had returned with reinforcements and Morfin had been sentenced to three years in Azkaban, while Marvolo Gaunt had received six months.

I looked up at him. "Marvolo?"

Albus nodded.

"That's my father's middle name. They're related somehow, aren't they?"

"Marvolo Gaunt is Tom's grandfather... your great grandfather. His son, Morfin, and daughter, Merope, were the last of the Gaunts, a very ancient Wizarding family."

"And Merope... She was Tom's mother... and the man on the horse..."

"His father."

I thought for a moment. "But Tom said he was conceived from a love potion... when did they split... and why?"

Albus smiled sadly. "It's unclear. Perhaps she simply let him go as she couldn't bear to continue enslaving him... or perhaps she hoped that he would love her... especially now that she was pregnant."

"But he didn't."

"No... he didn't," he replied, softly. "He left and never saw her again. She died not very long after and the young Riddle was sent to the orphanage."